Tomorrow we will all be sitting around a crowded table complete with an over abundant amount of food and relatives. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

brine |brīn|

noun

water strongly impregnated with salt

Turkeys are some difficult birds. Their very mass is enough to intimidate, never mind the fact that a house full of people have waited all year for this bird. Every year there are numbers of families around numbers of tables trying to mask the chalk-dry bird in some sort of gravy concoction. We can change this.

The word "turkey" should always be immediately followed by the word "brine". When it comes to the poultry game brines are the secret weapon.

A brine is a very salty liquid, usually seasoned with spices in which meat is submerged. Recipe instructions will vary, but typically the poultry is left to brine overnight. So what’s so special about salty spice water? Salt. The salt in the liquid jumps in and starts removing moisture. Muscle proteins then begin to unwind and the bonds which originally held them together break. That’s where the water steps in, the water then attaches to the proteins and holds on - binding the proteins together. In the end we end up with a juicier and significantly more flavorful turkey. Now let’s get on our turkey game.

I am delighted that you are here! My name is Ashlyn Bowden and I am The Pedantic Foodie. I find familiarity, tradition, and inspiration in the kitchen, and this little corner of the internet is where I share my culinary shenanigans and try to force my workaholic, type-A self into practicing this thing I like to call Intentional Living. Can we bake pastry together?